Pertti Kekarainen’s series TILA has been evolving during the past ten years and consists of more than 130 works. The Finnish word tila has multiple meanings and describes an architectural space, a room, or the interior space of an object; moreover a space or distance between different objects. At the same time, it refers to a conditional state of a thing as well as a certain state of mind. Its connotations reach into various life spheres of social, cultural, and political significance. Just as meanings of words are always construed a new relative to the things they signify, so do Kekarainen’s works remain in a constant state of flux. Testifying to his initial training as a sculptor, earlier works of this series like the TILA Passages (2006–2008) or TILA 1-4 (2012) as well as the newest works from the TILA Spatial Changes series (since 2014) illustrate Kekarainen’s objective to carve out spatial depths by means of overlapping semi-transparent surfaces, and incorporating graphic elements such as lines, blurred dots, and circular or rectangular ‘holes’, as well as effects of color, reflection, and shadow.
Pertti Kekarainen (1965 - 2021) was a longtime influential exponent of The Helsinki School as well as member of the Association of Finnish Sculptors and the Union of Artist Photographers. Kekarainen was educated at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (now Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture) (1984–85), the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki (1985–89), and the Vrije Academie van Beeldenden Kunsten, Den Haag (1989). Since the 1990s, he has been continuously exhibiting his works, which are held in numerous international collections, in both solo and group exhibitions worldwide.